to think this isn't suitable for 5 year olds??

Have just put dd2 to bed. We were having a chat about her day, what she'd done at school. She got upset and said she didn't want to talk about it, they'd been doing their project. They have been learning about Egypt. Today they were taught about mummies, about how to make mummies. About how the dead bodies were washed, covered in salt to dry them out and how the brains were pulled out with a hook.

When I was at primary school we had a different history subject for each year of school (for instance my whole year 6 was about WW2) I do remember that egypt was VERY early on, and seems to usually be a history subject taught to a lot of young uns.

Depends how they described it, whether it was macabre and scary, or whether they did it in a "horrible histories" kind of way and fun.

it could be that they was just learning about Egypt and one of the other children brought the subject of mummies up and the teacher got dragged into a discussion on it!?! if that's not the case they certainly shouldn't be preparing to teach 5 year old that

I think your DD is especially sensitive to be upset by the gruesome, most small children of this age love that stuff. Especially as they haven't developed to the stage where they empathise that well.However I would talk to her teacher, to warn the teacher that your DD is sensitive, and to check that no one was "teasing" her about it.

I was reading a book about the Egyptians to my 4 year old the other day, she found it fascinating. My 5 year old also finds that kind of thing very interesting, I wouldn't really be concerned if they talked about it in school in an age appropriate way. I guess pulling a brain out with a hook is a bit gross, but I wouldn't personally say the topic was unsuitable.

My five year old daughter (reception class) chose a book about Mummies from the library. She thought the brain hook thing was gross, but she was un-fazed. Should I be concerned about that? Rhetorical question. I'm not. She accepts death as a part of life, and is a funny, kind, loving, little girl.

She has seen documentaries about Ancient Eygpt, and is particularly fascinated by the Pharoh Queens. But obviously the subject of mummies came up, and I wouldn't lie to her about it.

I don't want to her to have any fear about any 'acceptable' (in their time and place) rituals surrounding death.